A missing passenger has been found alive after a fire on a Mediterranean ferry.

As the Greek Coast Guard informed the AFP news agency on Sunday, the man was discovered in the area of ​​​​the rear of the ferry.

He communicated with the rescue workers.

The Coast Guard initially did not provide any further information about the passenger.

The Greek coast guard had recently assumed that at least twelve people were missing as a result of the accident.

According to information from the coast guard on Saturday, these were seven truck drivers from Bulgaria, three from Greece and one each from Turkey and Lithuania.

They are said to have slept in their trucks on the parking deck when the fire broke out, although this is forbidden.

The fire on the ferry "Euroferry Olympia" broke out on Friday at around 4.30 a.m. (local time, 3.30 a.m. CET) when the ship was just off the coast of the Greek holiday island of Corfu.

There were almost 300 people on board the car ferry, including 237 passengers.

The ship was on its way from Igoumenitsa in northwest Greece to the southern Italian port of Brindisi.

After the fire broke out, everyone on board was asked to leave the ship immediately.

Within a short time the ferry was completely on fire.

Temperatures around 600 degrees

The search for the other missing persons turns out to be very difficult.

The special units of the Greek civil service despair: “We measure temperatures of around 600 degrees on the outside of the ship.

You can't do anything like that, ”said the head of the special command of the Greek civil service Giorgos Mitsis on Greek television.

On Saturday afternoon, thick clouds of smoke could again be seen from miles away, as Greek media reported.

The public prosecutor's office of the island of Corfu launched an initial investigation.

The captain and two officers were to testify first.

Initially, there were no arrests, the state broadcaster reported.

Tugboats can control the ferry

The ship was drifting north of the Greek island of Corfu and a few nautical miles off the Albanian coast on Saturday afternoon.

However, tugboats can control the movements of the ferry.

The ship must be brought to a safe harbor or bay soon.

The weather in the region of the disaster is good at the moment.

According to meteorologists, winds of force seven will blow in the southern Adriatic from Tuesday.

A total of 280 people have been brought to safety so far.

Nine people were slightly injured, one is in the intensive care unit in the hospital on the holiday island of Corfu because of severe smoke poisoning, state radio reported.

Most of the people who were rescued told reporters at the scene that the ferry's crew acted in a "coordinated and professional manner" and got people onto the lifeboats first.

They were then picked up by the Greek Coast Guard and an Italian Guardia di Finanza ship, which happened to be in the area of ​​the disaster on Friday, and taken to Corfu.

But there is also some information that the conditions on board the ferry were bad.

The association of Greek truck drivers had already protested in writing.

Among other things, the trucks on the car decks are said to have been parked too close together on previous trips, according to the letter of protest, which was published in the Greek press.

There is no information about the causes of the accident.

This will only be determined once the ship has been brought to safety, Greek Minister for Merchant Shipping Giannis Plakiotakis told Skai news channel.

Once the ship is secured, experts will first try to pump the fuel out of the wreckage of the ferry to prevent an oil spill, the minister said.